Vulcan Echo
Born to surprised parents, Mihail and Takhar, he grew up as a single child in the isolated village of Tow. Family History Mihail, had been hired as a short term farmhand for the harvest season, during which he was a familiar sight in the Red Apple Inn. Takhar worked at the local haberdashery repairing clothes of the villagers and farmhands. One evening they met and found happiness. Numerous liaisons later Takhar's belly swelled and Vulcan made his entrance. Mihail was 'encouraged' by Ned to marry Takhar afterwhich the couple built a small home. Mihail then secured a position at The Orchard. Youth Under the watchful gaze of Granny, the village matriarch, Vulcan grew up running around The Orchard helping to pick apples where he could. Being an only child in a small village he was fortunate that there were some other children around his age. There were not many older children in the village for reasons his parents couldn't explain. Vulcan was the eldest and soon felt the responsibility of looking after and leading some of the younger ones by trying to set a good example. All to often he took the blame for things he had no control over. The den they had made at the pond was a popular place of escape for Vulcan to forget the neverending chores of life. At least it was until the Summer of his 11th year when a group of goblins stumbled into his path. The Dusting It took many months of sweat soaked sheets for Vulcan to accept The Dusting. In a single day, those he had held dear had been swept away by the wind. No more parents, no mother, no father, no Granny. So many people gone. What stung him even worse was his own confusion. No one had been able to give an explanation let alone even to try and take the time to explain it or care for Vulcan and his friends, except for one. The Priest, 'Father', had taken the group of boys into his own home and kept giving them busy work to do in order to keep their minds busy. Years passed and this became the new reality, Vulcan helped the Priest where he could by trying to keep the others in line. Often repeating the words of the Priest or of those who had vanished as if trying to keep them alive thus earning a surname of Echo. Farewells The desire to know more about The Dusting and the increasing feeling of being alone in Tow led Vulcan to the decision to leave. Unable to hide his thoughts, or at least keep them from his face, his mentor the Priest placed a letter of introduction into his hand. It was to meet a member of an order of the Church in the nearby city. Parting ways with 'the brothers' was a bittersweet moment, ruined by them arguing so much that they hadn't realised he left. Vulcan made a mental note to knock some sense into them both another time. Ministry Upon arriving at the main regional church, Vulcan used the letter of introduction from the Father to meet a senior member and gain employment. As a new member of the church, Vulcan was assessed for magical talent and ability. Some latent magic was identified but Vulcan was sorely lacking in ability (brains). Shortly thereafter he was assigned to escort duty for church donations. This led him onto the open roads with some of the senior escorts, of which included an elderly paladin. The role involved a lot of travelling through small villages and riding horses as well as staying at taverns. Vulcan learnt a lot from this paladin and continued serving the church working hard to build up his savings - which was going quite well as the church paid for most things. Even his horse. As frequent travellers, depositing the wealth of the church to the central reserves or escorting senior clerics, often the Convoy met small caravans comprised of merchants and troupes. As time passed, the Convoy kept encountering familiar merchants and their travelling families, even becoming quite friendly with them. Things started to go awry for Vulcan when one of the travelling merchant's eldest daughters invited him drinking one night. Completely besotted and upon the promise of engagement, Vulcan trusted her with most of his savings in order for her to strike out on her own and form her own merchant enterprise. Vulcan didn't really understand how she planned to do this but trusted her enthusiasm. The next month when the Convoy had planned to rendezvous with the merchant family for a journey northwards there was no sign of them. The Convoy unable to delay set off any longer departed on the road once more only to be met with misfortune and found themselves ambushed later in the day. Vulcan and the paladin were forced to flee and barely escaped with their lives but the donations had been seized by these masked figures. Returning to the church, both Vulcan and the paladin were held responsible for the loss of the tribute. This led to Vulcan being reassigned to guard duties. A letter appeared one morning addressed to Vulcan. It was from his future fiancé. Some time later Vulcan did see the paladin again who had now been reassigned to a teaching role due to combination of his advanced age and the Church's loss of trust in him. A friendly relationship continued. Unhappy returns One bright morning a letter had appeared on Vulcan's bed in the dormitory. He had to go home. He had to see Father one last time. Even if it was only to pray over him and say goodbye. Informing the head watchman of his intention to return home for the funeral and wanting his pay ledger to be honoured, sadly found that the management fees and dormitory charge and food fees and candle fees and armour maintenance only left him with a pittance. Vulcan really missed being on the open road. His request to borrow a horse was also denied. Upon seeing this, the elderly paladin offered Vulcan the use of his horse on the condition that once Vulcan reaches his destination, he feed the horse a carrot and send him home. Vulcan packed his treasured rug, rolled up, wrapped up and tucked under his backpack, a few rations and set off to pay his respects. He is thinking that once that is done he might find work escorting merchant groups back towards the main Church. when he travels the roads he is always hoping to see her again.